Livingston talent factory brings Premiership scouts to Almondvale

Livingston are well on their way to becoming one of the top developers of talent in Scottish football.

The near destruction of the club following the Angelo Massone era decimated Livingston’s youth development programme.

That had yielded such talents as Leigh Griffiths, Robert Snodgrass and Graham Dorrans who are all household names and each have international caps.

Now after years of rebuilding Livingston’s reputation, infrastructure and youth system, the club are back up there as a must-see for scouts across the UK.

The interest Manchester United are showing in Coll Donaldson is a prime example of the talent emerging from Almondvale.

The 17-year-old is the latest promising Livingston player to attract interest from England and is another example of the fine work going on behind the scenes at the club.

Arsenal, Swansea City, Derby County, and now Manchester United have all been interested in players on the books at Livingston.

Marc McNulty spend a week at Derby County at the start of the 2012-13 campaign where he scored in a trial but was not offered a deal at the English Championship club.

Stefan Scougall has also been eyed up by both Arsenal and Swansea as well as a number of SPL outfits.

And now Donaldson has become the latest player to catch the eye down south.

The arrival of John Hughes and John Collins made a world of difference to the development of youngsters at the club.

Indeed, the board pointed at the development of fresh talent at the club as one of the key motives for bringing the duo into Almondvale.

And before his departure, Hughes had given around a dozen youngsters their first team debut.

Among them are Connor McDonald and Danny Mullen.

Donaldson is not one of them, having impressed at Reserve level but not yet made an appearance in the first team.

The defensive midfielder last week signed a contract extension keeping at Livingston until 2015.

And that has been one of the most impressive things that Livingston are currently doing behind the scenes.

While many clubs in Scotland are struggling to hang on to their talented young players and often losing them on free transfers once their contracts expire, Livi look likely to make some money from their talent.

Scougall extended his contract at the club until 2016 - and even sited wanting to help Livingston make some money on any offer as a reason for doing so.

He told me soon after the deal was done that it gave him stability and meant clubs would have to pay for his services.

That means that Livingston’s focus on youth development could well improve their financial position if just a few of these many talented young players attract enough interest from bigger teams.

When Livi’s former youth development coach Brian Welsh left Livi for USA last season, he said that he couldn’t understand why the club wasn’t attracting scouts.

No doubt the news that Man U are interested in Livingston’s youngsters will lead to them once again enjoying a reputation as developing top talent.